Thanks for the advice, here folks. I genuinely appreciate it.

Sounds like the sun light is washing out the infrared beams. Try
swapping the two photo-cells. One is a transmitter & one is a receiver,

so this usually solves the problem.

Ya know, Doc, that might make sense. The door didn't appear to be
binding to my untrained eye. And at this time of year, the sun does
shine in on one of the sensors at certain times of the day. It just
might be that.

The smoke was probably from the capacitor. Once it cools down the
opener may no longer work, motor will just buzz. Even if it keeps
working the cap should be changed.

You're right again, Doc. It was indeed smoke, and the unit did stop
working at all once it cooled down. So is the capacitor a
user-replaceable part? If so, where can they be purchased? At Sears?

- Fleemo